Plant based breakfast choices
Breakfast is a very important first meal of the day often missed or eaten on the go by a large percentage of the population, getting your breakfast choices right can be key to balancing your blood sugar and meeting your nutritional needs for the rest of the day.
Healthy swaps and ideas.
Swapping the traditional English breakfast to plant based could not be easier. Plant based alternatives to bacon/sausages/eggs are now found in almost all supermarkets add in mushrooms, tomatoes and beans of your choice to power up your morning full English.
For cereals/granola/muesli this is your chance to make your own favourite recipe, steering clear of massed produced products that may be high in sugar and low in nutrition. Experiment with different grain alternatives. Try oats/barley/millet/amaranth/kamut/freekeh/quinoa/bulgur/rye, choose your favourites add your plant based milk (almond/soya/cashew/hazelnut) top with a handful of nuts add fruit of your choice and a spoonful of plant based yogurt for a delicious and healthy start to the day.
Oats are a great option if you want to prepare ahead by soaking them overnight in the milk of your choice in the morning the oats will have turned deliciously creamy leaving you to add some berries and perhaps some grated apple for a nutritious start to the day.
The best a lot of people can do at breakfast is a quick round of toast normally eaten on the go whilst getting the children ready for school or getting ready to travel to work. But even this most basic of breakfasts can be made healthier with a few tweaks. First of all it is important to choice you best quality bread , try to steer clear of white heavily processed bread lacking in fibre and roughage going for instead wholemeal/granary/multi seed or sourdough options. A change from just butter on your toast try sliced tomatoes with mashed avocado's or houmous with grated apple, almond/pistachio butter with sliced banana or pear.
Smoothie Bowls.
A great and simple way of starting your day of right is by creating your own special smoothie bowl. Either blend or buy your favourite good quality smoothie, stir in 2/3 tablespoons of full fat plain plant based yogurt of your choice into a bowl and layer a selection of fruits on top these could be berries, bananas, mango any fruit you like, then sprinkle over a handful of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. An energy packed start to the day.
Try this cleansing juice to jump start your day.
The Mint Cleanser.
Ingredients.
1 x green apple
2/3 x stalks of celery
A good chunk of cucumber
2/3 segments of peeled lemon
2/3 segments of peeled orange
A handful of fresh mint.
A cup of coconut water to help loosen all the ingredients.
Juice or blend adding a little more coconut water for a looser consistency.
In the next blog we look at ideas for plant based lunches.